1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates generally to the field of tracking data processing time and transmission time, and more particularly to a system and method for assembling timing data in a multi-layer server environment.
2. Background of the Invention
Communicating data via a network has become a very popular way of efficiently sending data to one or more parties. Data typically travels through some type of multi-tier environment in order to be packaged for output and/or processed following receipt of the data. As communication of the data via a network, such as a local area network (LAN), a wide area network (WAN), etc., grows in popularity, the time it takes for the data to arrive at a particular location becomes ever more important. In order to track data rates, many networks employ monitoring systems that attempt to record the time the data spends at each tier in the multi-tier environment.
In a centralized monitoring system, for instance, each tier (i.e. layer) that a HyperText Markup Language (HTML) page travels through sends a message to a central repository or server indicating the time the data arrives at that particular tier. Typically, these monitoring systems provide collective metrics, such as the total time it takes for the data to make its round trip. Thus, specific business transactions, such as the time data spends at each tier in the multi-tier system, is not generally recorded. Although collective metrics can provide information about the efficiency of the multi-tier environment, these type of metrics do not ordinarily provide information related to where a bottleneck may exist in the multi-tier environment, for instance, since timing data for each tier is not provided.
For centralized monitoring systems to work properly, a server must understand the messages being communicated to the central repository or server and must not be confused by receiving messages from multiple sources simultaneously. Since many users may be utilizing a system at the same time, the monitoring system must be able to track multiple data and record the messages from the various tiers regarding the times when the data arrives at each of the various tiers.
In addition, a centralized monitoring system typically requires synchronization. The central repository usually needs to maintain synchronization with each of the tiers that report to the central repository, else the messages cannot be interpreted properly to reveal total round trip time of the data traveling through the system.
Therefore, it can be appreciated that there exists a need for a system and method for assembling timing data in a multi-layer server environment. There exists a further need for a process for assembling this timing data efficiently, with minimum overhead.